The present invention relates generally to the field of interactive television and in particular to a new and useful way to provide selective advertising to a television viewer using an interactive display.
Interactive television systems including advertising are generally known in the art. For example, an interactive television system which queries a viewer about their advertising preferences and then presents targeted advertisements is taught by U.S. Pat. No. 6,006,257. A viewer can select from the option of receiving no advertising and pay a fee to watch a program, some advertising and a reduced fee, or interactive advertising and watch the program for free. The interactive advertising requires responses from the viewer, and the advertising can be changed depending on the responses given by the viewer. A set-top communications box having a cable modem connection is used to connect the television to the program provider and advertiser on the Internet.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,761,606 is for an interactive system which provides indicators to a viewer through the vertical blanking intervals (VBI) of a conventional program. The indicator can be a message on the television screen, a blinking light or a sound, among other things. The indicators provide a notice to viewers that more information about the program is available, sometimes through links to Internet or other on-line information providers. If the link is selected, the system connects to the on-line information provider via a digital connection using address information in the indicator link. The information may be displayed on a television using picture-in-picture format.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,585,858 teaches a system for simulcasting an interactive program with a normal television program using the same video signal bandwidth. Graphical questions can be presented to the viewer at the beginning or during the program. A response is made using a keyboard or keypad. The system generates a reply based on the user response. Users can have either a set-top communications box or a personal computer attached to the television to connect interactive components. The system is particularly adapted to educational uses.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,724,103 discloses an interactive information delivery system using the vertical blanking intervals (VBI) of certain television stations to provide data sent with the conventional programming on a computer monitor. A computer having the necessary decoding hardware can display both the data and the conventional program on the monitor. The data is encoded into the VBI by the television station broadcaster prior to transmission of the conventional program. The patent does not teach displaying the data and conventional program on a television.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,931,908 describes an overlay system for an interactive television program in which overlay items seen on the screen can be selected to activate information retrieval from the Internet. As an example, if an overlay of an actor's name shown in the credits is selected, information about the actor is retrieved from the Internet and displayed to the viewer. Overlays are associated with a particular program so that the available selection options are relevant to the program.
Patents which disclose cable devices for displaying information on a television, include U.S. Pat. No. 5,579,057 for an on-screen display system for a subscriber terminal of a subscription television system. A screen containing a reduced size graphics area (television signal) bordered by a text display is described in columns 10 and 11. The graphics area can be overlapped by the text mode. The patent relates to addressable television cable converter boxes which can use either the cable connection or a telephone connection to order pay-per-view events and other programming. The patent does not teach receiving a signal from the Internet; the television signals are all received from a cable provider via the cable, or the display information comes from graphics stored in a memory in the converter box.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,195 discloses a graphical interface for an on-demand video system having a television, a set-top communications box and a video server. The available user selections are presented as a graphic scene on the television for selection by a user. A CPU in the set-top box generates the graphic scene and interprets user commands. Advertisements are identified as being one of the possible selections presented on the television screen. However, the graphic scene occupies the entire screen, there is no connection to the Internet and television signal programming cannot be viewed concurrently with the graphic scene.
A method of providing directed advertising via a consumer's television is taught by U.S. Pat. No. 5,915,243. First, the consumer is asked a series of questions to determine what advertising is appropriate for the consumer. Then, based on the profile, different promotions and coupons are offered to the consumer through the television. A set-top communications box is connected to the television which is both a signal tuner and transmitter using the cable television lines.